A company that sells nutritional supplement shakes via subscriptions hit the ground running and began growing soon after its launch. The fast-growing startup’s founder wanted the brand to keep expanding, but knew he’d need help meeting the business’ growing customer support needs.

The company came to TTEC Agility in 2019, seeking a customer experience (CX) expert. Its needs were small at the time, but the brand was on a fast growth trajectory and needed a partner that could scale with it. The founder was drawn to TTEC Agility because we had the people, technology, and strategy to meet a growing company’s evolving needs and take its CX to the next level.

In the years since, we’ve deepened our collaboration to become trusted partners. We troubleshoot problems as they arise, with top talent and cutting-edge technology — but beyond that, we work hand-in-hand to make customers happier by identifying pain points and eliminating them with proactive solutions.

The right mix of onshore and offshore support elevates CX

When the company’s founder first came to us, the startup needed associates to expand its customer support team. Specifically, it needed to handle ticket resolutions via chat, phone, and email.

We started by providing two full-time equivalents (FTEs) and soon doubled that number to four. The company’s needs were modest, but TTEC Agility specialises in providing expert support in those situations. When the pandemic hit in 2020, we quickly ramped up the number of associates we provided — growing from two FTEs to 74 FTEs — to meet a surge in demand. In the time since, we’ve provided as many as 83 associates during volume surges.

With TTEC’s guidance, the company has reaped the financial and logistical benefits of offshoring. Its customers are based in the United States and Germany, but our associates provide expert customer support from within the U.S., as well as the Philippines and Poland. We are expecting and ready to add more locations as the brand keeps growing.

Feedback, communication fuel collaboration

From the beginning of our partnership, we curated a customised CX strategy for the company and provided the people and technology needed to bring it to life. We dove deeply into the company’s data around customer behaviours and preferences, for instance, to help inform marketing efforts and business decisions.

With the insights we’ve culled, TTEC helped the company provide more personalised experiences. We also provided training to sales associates so they can better meet each customer’s individual needs and expectations. As one example, we tested verbiage used during sales and customer support interactions to determine which words and phrases improved (and hurt) outcomes.

We constantly keep a finger on the pulse of customer sentiment for the company, including a daily analysis of dissatisfied customer (DSAT) data. Each day, we assessed what contributes to a positive or negative customer experience and relayed those insights back to the company so successes could be replicated and problems resolved.

Proactive solutions help customers and employees alike

Our expertise in data analysis enables us to spot and act on areas needing improvement. We’ve proactively identified parts of the customer journey where solutions like automation and voice of the customer improved CX and CSAT.

We tested the company’s return and refund policies and compared them to those of similar businesses. We found the company’s 30-day refund policy hurt sales; when customers had that length of time to return products, they put off trying the products. We recommended shortening the refund period to 14 days to encourage customers to try the products sooner.

In another instance, we identified a surge in customer questions about the brand’s coupons, so we proactively sought to understand the drivers behind this trend. After experiencing the customer journey first-hand, we pointed out that nearly all of the links on the company’s website were coloured yellow — except for the link to the coupon code, which was white. Customers didn’t realise the code was an active, clickable link, so we changed the link’s colour, which led to more coupon codes being used and helped increase CSAT.

Our proactive approach also helped when a newly deployed fraud detection tool erroneously flagged as fraudulent many interactions that were legitimate. This overwhelmed the lone employee tasked with managing fraud alerts and caused backlogs that frustrated customers and employees alike.

We assembled a team to work with the company to identify and fix bugs within the fraud technology. TTEC Agility’s plug-and-play model, which bundles complementary services in a way that eliminates most guesswork, enabled us to quickly deploy proven technology solutions to meet the company’s needs. We responded to the bugs within 24 hours.

CX partners, now and in the future

As the company continues to grow, TTEC stands ready to grow with it. We have plans to add three new contact centre locations in France, Spain, and Italy, and we continue to closely monitor the brand’s needs so we’re prepared to adapt quickly.

We also keep examining the customer journey and associate experience, looking for ways to eliminate friction, increase efficiencies, and cut costs for the client wherever we can.